The past twelve months alone have produced more digital transformation in retail than the last decade. Retailers, manufacturers and consumers alike were forced to change and what appeared to be quick fixes in the early days have now quickly become habits. The swell in online shopping, the demand for frictionless payments, the quick deployment of buy-anywhere-pickup near you and the scramble to adopt new technologies that enable all these changes are just the beginning.

What innovative retail trends are retailers like you looking forward to implement in 2021 to get on the right side of trends?

Strive for 1:1 personalization

Consumers’ expectations will only continue to rise in the future. That’s why creating 1:1 experiences within your campaigns – whether it’s personalized product recommendations or a data visualization including loyalty points with the help of efficient promotion planning solutions – will be key for driving engagement and keeping your customers engaged over time.

Aim for a single view of the customer

Harnessing your data and using it to power personalized campaigns will be imperative in the coming years. Unfortunately, capturing that data is still a massive challenge for many brands. Customer data platforms (CDPs) can help streamline the flow of data to create a single view of the customer – and they’re worth the investment. 

Supply chain resiliency amid distribution

It is important for retailers to build back confidence by winning the last mile, fortifying every link in the supply chain, driving decisions through the consumer lens, and measuring resiliency investment. Order fulfilment (e.g., last-mile delivery and pickup-near-you) will see the heaviest investments, followed by warehouse management and procurement.

Create consistent omni-channel experiences

If there is one thing we’ve learned in the aftermath of COVID-19, it’s that nothing is certain. With some parts of the world reopening and others closing, it’s never been more important to provide best-in-class experiences no matter where your customers choose to interact with your brand. Flexibility is key for survival – hence, it is all the more important to operate your business via multiple channels, both offline and online.

Consistent, on-brand experiences are a necessity across email, mobile, your website, and beyond. The companies that get it right will be omnipresent for shoppers — connecting online, in stores as well as social commerce and making sure every touchpoint is frictionless.

Operating through multiple sales channels will lead to more complexity. Entrepreneurs, we know for sure, are an impatient lot when it comes to administrative encumbrance. That is precisely why ETP has developed a platform to relieve you from most worries when it comes to omni-channel sales. We are happy to offer you a quick 1-hour workshop that’ll help you understand how you too can integrate your online and offline retail POS with each other using our ready-to-use omni-channel solution that includes e-commerce integration, a robust supply chain, and a powerful promotion planning software. Reach out to ETP!